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As I've been thinking about Omni, I started asking myself, what is actually there in his words that I can notice and learn from?

1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Omni, being commanded by my father,
Jarom, that I should write somewhat upon these plates, to preserve our
genealogy—

2 Wherefore, in my days, I would that ye should know
that I fought much with the sword to preserve my people, the Nephites, from
falling into the hands of their enemies, the Lamanites. But behold, I of myself
am a wicked man, and I have not kept the statutes and the commandments of the
Lord as I ought to have done.

3 And it came to pass that two hundred and seventy and
six years had passed away, and we had many seasons of peace; and we had many
seasons of serious war and bloodshed. Yea, and in fine, two hundred and eighty
and two years had passed away, and I had kept these plates according to the
commandments of my fathers; and I conferred them upon my son Amaron. And I make
an end. (Omni 1:1-3)

I notice
that the purpose of keeping the record on the small plates has changed by this
time.It is no longer kept as a
repository of the most plain and sacred things, but it is kept to preserve the
genealogy.I checked earlier in
the Book of Mormon and it seems that somehow the purpose changed when the
plates came to Omni’s father Jarom because Jarom similarly states that he keeps
the plates to keep their genealogy, although he adds as an afterthought that another intent is to
benefit the Lamanites. By the time
the plates get to Omni, the desire to benefit the Lamanites seems to have been
forgotten. (Was Omni so used to fighting Lamanites by this time that he was ambivalent about writing to benefit them?)

In Omni,
I also notice that in verse 3 there are two difference statements about how
many years had passed away.First,
276 years had passed away.Very
soon afterward, “in fine, two hundred and eighty and two years had passed away”
showing there was a gap of six years between when the verse was started and
finished.I will venture to
speculate that Omni began writing while laid up from war wounds.Perhaps he was not sure he would
survive and wanted to get something down before it was too late.The way he starts out, it is as if he
is about to introduce additional material, but then gives up.I wonder if the narrative task
intimidated him or if the difficulty of engraving on plates was too much.Perhaps he felt like he didn’t have
anything of significance to say that drove him to write.

and we had many seasons of peace; and we had many
seasons of serious war and bloodshed
– This seemed curious to me for some reason. It is as if peace and war are
conditions that change with the seasons of the year.(John L. Sorenson argues this was the case in his article “Seasons of War, Seasons of Peace in the Book of Mormon”)As I was pondering this bit of
information and trying to see if there was anything of a spiritual nature that
could be gleaned from it, I realized that if seasons of peace and seasons of
war have a pattern, then that means they are predictable.And if they are predictable, then that
means we can plan around them both to prepare and to cope better.(Two quick application questions: How
do you think we can plan around the season of political war associated with
national elections?If there is a
pattern of contention in our homes, how do we plan around this to strengthen
our families?)

Another thing I notice is
that Omni said there were many of
these seasons of peace and war.The very nature of a cycle that repeats is that there is opportunity for
learning to take place.If we can
learn something beneficial from each trip through the cycle, then it can become
a refining process for us.But if
we learn nothing, then it is just another instance of suffering that leads to bitterness.And too, who says the cycle has to
continue?

At the end of Omni’s little
account, he says this, “I had kept these plates according to the commandments
of my fathers..”Well, when we
compare the quality and quantity of Omni’s writings to those of his
predecessors, his underperformance is obvious to us.If he is cheeky enough to call this miniscule scrawl “according
to the commandments of [his] fathers,” we may well wonder if this is a
desperate self-deception or if this is a sample of the type of obedience he exhibited
at other times.It also causes me
to examine my own life and think about what commandments I may claim I am
obedient to but actually underperform in.

As you can see, my opinion
of Omni swings back and forth.I
want to see good in him from his record, but there is so little record to see!What do you think?

2
comments:

I remember a teaching on Omni.So Omni did not have a lot of space to write on, so as we were taught, the economy of words had to be more symbolic in nature, and had to also allude to the previous writing of Enos and Jarom. Omni was the son of Jarom, and the grandson of Enos and great grandson of Jacob. So I read Enos and Jarom and noted that each of these men seemed to consider themselves "rough around the edges" or even wicked as Omni referenced. But they strived to be obedient to their charge. It is evidient that these men manifested their priesthood by keeping and gaurding this record. They had a heart for God. Jarom stated in Jarom 1:2 "It must needs be that I write a little:but I shall not write the things of my prophesying, nor of my revelations. For what could I write more than my fathers have written? For have they not revealed the plan of salvation? I say unto you, Yea: and this sufficeth me.So Omni keeps or "guards" his geneaology. I think it was more than checking ancestry.com. I feel that Omni was a "prince" or even chief?king in his community.Maybe he compared himself to his father and grandfather, but in his perceived weakness, the Lord built strength in character and perserverance.My thoughts.

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Michaela Stephens

Arizona, United States

I'm a happily married 32-year old who switched from Electronic Engineering Technology to Literature, Writing, and Film.
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